Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Video: From YouTube.
This song is special for me because it features one of my all-time favorite performers, singing about baseball, my favorite sport.
In “Glory Days”, Springsteen lionizes characters from his youth, reminiscing about their heroic adventures back in the day. The mood of the song is upbeat and joyous, even celebratory. It was the fifth of seven top 10 singles from the classic “Born In The U.S.A.” album, peaking at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In the video, Bruce portrays a baseball player. He seems to be assuming the persona of the character in the opening verse, the one who “could throw that speedball by you”. He throws from a bucket of balls at a backstop, and while he talks to his son in the closing scene, it is revealed that he is pitching an imaginary baseball game. He was pretending to pitch against the San Diego Padres and was beaten by Graig Nettles in the bottom of the ninth.
It is interesting because when I think of Graig Nettles, it is almost exclusively as the Yankees third baseman on the 1977 and 1978 World Series winning teams. But Nettles was shipped to San Diego by George Steinbrenner after writing a tell-all book bashing the cantankerous owner. In 1984, his first year with the Padres, he had a productive season and returned to the World Series. A slugger and an excellent fielder, he played well into his forties.
Springsteen performed “Glory Days” at Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa. Unfortunately, he bastardized the lyrics, turning the hero into a football player who knew how to throw that "Hail Mary". But still, a great song by one of 1985's music heroes.
Speaking of bastardization, I give you...Lemonade, by the Juice Box Heroes. I was gonna to learn this for the campfire last week -- a request from a couple of kids under 5 -- but then I didn't.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.myspace.com/juiceboxheroesmusic/music/songs/lemonade-78760225